BAVO AGM

Speaking last Friday to the annual general meeting of the Bridgend Association of Voluntary Organisations (BAVO), I explained that during the next five years the way that public services are organised and delivered in Wales will dramatically change because of the Welsh Assembly Governments response to the Beecham Report.

Sir Jeremy Beecham’s Report whilst acknowledging that there were examples of good practice being undertaken from within the public sector within Wales, emphasised the need for greater collaboration if service standards were to be raised, and the needs of the users more effectively recognised.

In our response, the Welsh Assembly Government will be establishing Local Service Boards in each local authority area, which will replace the already existing Community Strategy Partnerships. These new LSB’s will be required to plan and deliver services on an integrated basis. No longer will the needs of the citizen falter because of some bureaucratic system.

The provision of services will now have to take into consideration the needs of the citizen, including some of the most vulnerable within society. These radical proposals will require dedication and no small amount of culture change in the ways that organisations work with each other. However, I feel very confident that my constituents will before long, start to see the benefits of receiving a higher degree and a better quality of service provision because of the proposals being taken forward by the Labour administration in the Assembly.

Furthermore, I went on to explain the role that the voluntary sector will play within the LSB’s and in doing so I paid tribute to the work undertaken by BAVO in Bridgend, in particular the Chairperson Mal Reeves, the Director Tejay de Kretser (pictured above)and all the trustees and staff (right).